Not so long ago there was no really great filmmaker – Richard Donner. The man who gave the world such magnificent works as “Omen”, “Superman”, “Lethal Weapon” and much more. Forever inscribed his name in the history of cinema and in the hearts of numerous film fans around the world. It was in light of this that I decided to look at one of the most interesting and at the same time undeservedly underestimated works of the eminent director.
An evil sorcerer bishop cast a spell on the beautiful Izabo and the knight Etienne of Navarre: at night the knight turns into a wolf, and the girl into a hawk during the day. With the help of a small thief Philip, they hope to return to the city where their enemy lives under strict guard, destroy the sorcerer and remove the spell from themselves.
The authors of this tape came up with albeit quite simple in its essence, but despite this very rich and really interesting story. At first glance, we have a fairly standard story set for a fairy tale / fantasy with a spell, love, betrayal, friendship and an evil sorcerer. However, the authors of this film not only avoided the secondary nature of their work, but also achieved that the picture literally looks in one breath, and the story itself equally worthy of presenting its morality for viewers of small and more mature age.
Richard Donner is an extremely versatile director who felt equally worthy in completely different genres. The fantasy genre was no exception. At first glance, we have a classic fantasy with all the ensuing consequences. Nevertheless, Donner managed to bring his author’s handwriting and even a pronounced author’s handwriting to the picture. Especially against the background of an excellent electronic soundtrack, which you can listen to with great pleasure.
Huntingly pleases and magnificent play of Rutger Hauer and Michelle Pfeiffer, who are clearly the main decoration of this tape and give a high level of acting. Especially Hauer. Matthew Broderick also played well. Even if the actor looks extremely uncertain and awkward in his image on the screen.
8 out of 10
Lady Hawk is definitely one of the most curious and at the same time undeservedly underestimated works of cult director Richard Donner. Donner shot a great adventure fantasy with love, betrayal, friendship, a spell and an evil sorcerer that looks literally in one breath. Not to mention the fact that even after so many years since its appearance on the wide screens, the picture still looks interesting and with a fading heart.
Another picture with Hauer-knight, but against the background of others it does not seem something outstanding. There was much more self-irony in Floris, and Flesh+Blood bought the atmosphere of fabulous ultraviolence. Lady Hawk is a simple romantic tale for once. Perhaps someday I will want to change my mood, but I doubt it.
One of my favorite cinematic stories of all time. I can’t remember the year I first watched this film, but Rutger Hauer, whom I had only seen before in ' Traveler', from actors simply ' intriguing' immediately and forever passed into the category of immensely adored. It would seem that all you had to play the romantic role of a knight in love.
But how lucky I was that Kurt Russell merged from the project in time, and the coveted role fell into the hands of Hauer, who had previously been offered the role of a secondary villain. Knowing how Hauer in the role of negative heroes one of his appearance on the screen instantly pulls the blanket over himself, I’m afraid no one would have noticed a good hero if he had even a hundred times Kurt Russell.
Hauer in the role of Navarro is not enough that it looks like a fresco came down: taking with him a couple of attributes of a movie villain, he also brought a slightly fascinating ambivalent charm to the image. In fact, like the thief Philip Gaston, at first you can not be very sure what he is, this gloomy warrior in black robes, on a black horse, with imperious manners and the cold look of frighteningly bright eyes - good or bad. And all the more amazing (after 'Traveler'-that) how excitedly in love and happy these eyes can be in a scene with the beloved Izabo. Here you can fully appreciate the talent of the charismatic Dutchman. And in a duet with the beautiful and fragile Michelle Pfeiffer, they look so harmonious that you realize what a blasphemous and blasphemous villainy it was to share them with a curse. There are few such love stories even in movies.
But do not be afraid, the soft humor that permeates the entire narrative will not let it slide into ridiculous pathos. Mostly, it is present in the person of the cunning but kind-hearted thief Philip (Matthew Broderick), from whose point of view we see this story. These are his conversations with the Lord and comments on what is happening, and the stupid guards who are trying to catch him by the crowd and as if they are specifically waiting for him to get away from them, and his moved roar on the shoulder of the monk Imperius (try not to cry here).
Since the movie was released in 1985, everything you see in it is not special effects, but real, three-dimensional and tangible. And landscapes of Northern Italy, and castles, and horses of the Frisian breed, and hunting birds, which were filmed in the role of the winged companion of Navarro. Do not ignore the authentic medieval faces of peasants, whose heroes managed to stay for the night, and costumes - for them costume artist Nana Chekki received the award 'Saturn'. By the way, she plays the role of a dancer in the outfit of a bird that eats from the hands of a bishop. And there's a young Alfred Molina. He, having more screen time, is also able to pull the blanket over himself from any 'good guy' Unless you can get him off Hauer.
Watch for pure pleasure, especially now, when you can watch it in HD, and not, God forbid, in VHS-quality, as in those shaggy times when the film was just released, and where all the wonderful work of the operator, decorators, make-up artists and the verified color scheme of the film-medieval fairy tale merges into an incomprehensible brown spot. History for all time.
After the film "Fools", I wondered what else Richard Donner made. He shot a lot of things: Supermen and Lethal Weapon and much more. The filmography shows that he shot, mainly, what was in fashion. Not much bothering over the genre - drama, comedy, children's, fiction, western, remake, etc.
In 1985, he made two films, "Bulbs" and "Lady Hawk". If the former is understandably inspired by Spielberg, E.T. (1982), Indiana Jones (1981, 1984). The latter is likely due to the popularity of Conan (1982, 1984).
From Donner's filmography, the film "Lady Hawk" seemed familiar. Because in the early 2000s he read a remake book from Russian authors "Going into the night" with a cover from the then popular Russian artist Henri. Actually, he chose the book because of the cover of Henri, and the film because he once read the book.
Both the book and the film have an interesting concept: a man and a woman are in one form during the day and in another at night. Just as a person is awake during the day and sleeps at night, but the brain is still awake, continues to be active. A person cannot sleep while conscious and cannot be conscious while asleep. And only in the moment of half-sleeping and morning dreams, he is somewhere in the middle, and not in a dream or in consciousness.
The concept was so magnificent that it produced many imitations, the already mentioned book, Fiona of Shrek (1, 4), the film Aronofsky Fountain.
Maybe I'm dreaming. But my eyes are open, so I wake up and dream that I'm dreaming. Or rather I sleep, but dream that I am awake, but it seems that it is a dream.
"You're asleep."
A wonderful old-fashioned movie, a legend from the era of cable TV and videotapes (and one of my first DVDs, by the way). Beautiful fairy tale, ballad, knightly novel. Where the coincidence of the main characters and the actors who embodied them is perfect. Rutger Hauer, a true soldier of the Queen, a harsh descendant of the ferocious Frisians, brilliantly played the role of a valiant knight. The beautiful Michelle Pfeiffer also embodied the image of a beautiful lady. And both the heroes of this love drama, who became a victim of a curse from a despicable warlock, and the boy who unwittingly helps them, the lowest of the lower, are all the components of the classical heroic story. And she certainly will. Because the glorious knight does not suffer from forgiveness and softness. First and foremost, it is a film about love. A tale of love.
Eight centuries ago, a French poet-knight wrote:
And again May, and again the fragrances, and the nightingales ordered me to sing.
And the gift of fate brings me so rich - love! I did not dare to refuse.
Oh, if I had mastered the lady,
Naguya embraced, passion embraced, until the campaign arrived!
But in this story, the beautiful Damaa and her faithful knight can only count on that brief moment of unity of the love eyes. This is their happiness, and this is their terrible torment.
They are not young Romeo and Juliet, they are simple earthly people, victims of black witchcraft. But what is the magic of their mutual love, what chemistry skips between the actors!
And this film, this fairy tale can and should be considered as a tale of love. Love that never ceases to exist even on the threshold of hell. Love is eternally hopeful and eternally waiting, fierce, humble, but never ceases to be. Ready to follow your loved one to hell. Without saying high words. Just living in two bodies and two souls. True love.
Today, when the modern world often forgets about the knights and heroes of the past with such stunning ease, one can sometimes remember that in the heart of the most ordinary man a furious knight can sleep, ready to bow his knees and put his sword at the feet of his beautiful lady.
Good should be with fists and double-barrel crossbow
If you are a bloodthirsty scoundrel-bishop with fine fussy motor skills, rat facial expressions and a very corrupt nature and you are “lucky” to be a character of an American fantasy fairy tale in the role of a Glavgad, then it is easier to hang yourself immediately, because your inglorious end is predetermined. And if the resourceful director puts up against you the fearless and dispassionate Nordic Rutger Hauer at the peak of his physical form, riding a luxurious crow dancing frieze, armed with a two-handed sword of size, rather, like a globly and a double-barrel crossbow - you can even not hang yourself, but agree to any degree of cruelty killing. Because when you get a gray-eyed Erynia, it will be worse and more painful in any case - at stake is a young sweet-breasted Michelle Pfeiffer and quite a specific revenge on the ugly servant of the cult for past and present bad things. Although our priest does not know, for the general grayness of nature and the age of centuries, about the concept of plot formation of Hollywood cinema, but he clearly suspects something and, therefore, is in a hurry to fence himself off from karma with high fortress walls and crowds of knights dressed in cute red cloaks, delaying, to the delight of viewers of this medieval fairy tale, his end, like the notorious Somoza from a Soviet anecdote.
And while Evil sits behind the castle walls around him slowly wanders, narrowing the circles, Good, as part of a pair of werewolves and one Mouse. Werewolf, of course, Rutger and Michelle, one night prowling a huge black wolf, the other days, flying a hawk in the sky. So they wander, in a scoundrel’s way and together, separated by the spell of an evil bishop, until the most predetermined finale. And the viewer can only guess who of the heroes and in what guise will get to the villain-enemy. Or are the screenwriters joking and they will both have the pleasure of putting their claws into the priestly flesh that has been fairly fattened on the church tithe?
Who else did we forget to mention? For the team of the Good is already mentioned above Mouse, a thief performed by Matthew Broderick. It falls to his share to rescue from the troubles of the heroes who fall, due to periodic brutality, into the snares and networks of the human world. Well, to attract a lot of American teenagers to the movie, thanks to his fame after the "War Games", the young actor could shut the belt and beginner in Hollywood European repatriate, and the diva, which by that time had only a secondary role in "Scarface". The Evil Ones have a numerical advantage due to the endless, faceless red-cloaked extras, the Bad Hunter and the Very Bad Guard Captain. However, no one except the Bishop, unfortunately, can be noted. Fortunately, all the dark forces are eclipsed by Michelle’s accidentally flashed lanita, Rutger’s stingy tear and Matthew’s constant woes and adversity.
Not to say that the animal appearance of the main characters carries some special metaphorical load. Rather, a script trick that should a fairytale plot slightly smooth the sometimes rough fabric of the narrative, soften the hearts of the audience and prepare them for a somewhat pathetic finale. However, the conventions of fantasy do not harm the film, on the contrary, they are in harmony with the verified picture, medieval European scenery and the slowness of the narrative.
All is well in this beautiful fairy tale. Even the charm of the Middle Ages and some futuristic additions to costumes and armor can be reduced to the costs of the genre and nods to the younger part of the audience. Of course, the film did not become a breakthrough and bringing something new to the art of cinema, but it did not recede over time on its ass, forgotten by everyone. Rather, it can be put on a par with such worthy samples as “The Princess Bride” or “Dragon Heart”, designed for a leisurely evening revision. Another reason to admire the beautiful French landscapes, folding history, and three very good actors, each of whom plays here in the prime of physical and creative forces. By the way, each of the trio of the film brought a lot of benefit - Hauer his ogloble cut the way to the main role in the much more famous "Flesh and Blood", where came in handy and tight-fitting campole and memorized gestures, Broderick proved that is not another accidentally flashed teenage celebrity and fell under the tutelage of "star maker" John Hughes, and Pfeiffer jumped, albeit after a short pause, in "Eastwick witches".
The light of the moon is always sad, as is the light of the sun, and the light that is called the life of man is all sad at sunrise and sunset.
Charles Dickens
Richard Donner’s film is filled with that real mysticism when the Inexplicable comes into our lives, as if all events are directed by some kind wizard, and our every movement – only in the right and unusually happy direction – where neither tears nor mistakes are possible, but only the fading of the heart from endless happiness. Where there is and will never be a false movement. This is called Grace, and the boy Philip touched this grace at the dawn of his life, and she intangibly snatched it and carried it away from the death penalty, and from the curse of the sharp sword, and from the towns and villages, and from the despair of taverns and inns, into his own fairy tale, which no one is free to take from him. And this fairy tale is real, not fantasy - it is a meeting with Love, with the most beautiful ballad that can be listened to indefinitely - about Lord Wolf and Lady Hawk, and to wander with them forever, either under the setting moon or under the rising sun.
Surprisingly, this poem, this beautiful song, as if played on a lute, which was sung either by a breeze, or by a sunset, or by a whispering oboe, this dream that lasts endlessly, all that aching feeling for which we love fantasy - for it shows us the best version of ourselves - remained unnoticed by the public, the press, the community. Maybe it's because it was shot in 1985? It just can't be! Like Legend, they couldn’t have been made at the time, they’re zero movies, just as bright, tart, thrilling to awe, to tears, because they make us love this world, believe in our future, as if our lives had some mysterious and lofty meaning, often inaccessible to ourselves. The atmospheric and sensual film “Lady Hawk” is built on some elusive accents that appear to the viewer slowly, as in a trance or half-asleep: here runs, almost without touching the ground, at sunrise, the Wolf swims over the setting Moon the most beautiful Bird, and all this seems to whisper and embrace the one who looks at this Miracle – the incredible, the impossible, the most beautiful – embraces the evening scents of herbs or old stones of the Castle, the delight of touching the fabric, because they are more sober and happy than they are.
With a gentle pour of music, a whisper of the film, and its heroes are blessed, and I want to shout with pain, from the realization of Beauty: Stop, too beautiful! Or don’t ever stop at that point. Thus is born the fate of the boy-thief, adopted not by lovers, but by Love herself, twice - once through Them, the second - through the minister of Love - the priest.
The beauty of the film is so undeniable - actors Matthew Broderick, Rutger Hauer, Michelle Pfeiffer, Leo McCurn - just divine - that this magic is not captured and not realized by the viewer, like 25 frames, like the touch of the Virgin Bird at dusk or the flashing of the Black Wolf in the woods, and you run, run after them in your dreams, and also become a little funny and hapless Phillip thief, laughing with happiness.
And these adventures! Wouldn’t anyone like to be carried away from the guards to the top of the mind-blowing Stairway to Heaven in the Priest’s Castle, from which such a stunning view comes; and now they are annoying you with their sharp swords, you laugh at your recklessness, a little bit more and... behold, you will fall off, fall into an abyss, wake up quickly, adored, but suddenly... you become a beautiful Bird like She, your Goddess, your impossible and first Love. And a little later, in a rush of adrenaline and joy, with what pride do you, Philip the Thief, taste the well-deserved wine, the strongest wine, infused with the aroma of ancient, exciting memories of adventures, stones and herbs, on the truth-knowing treatises of alchemists and monks, and these soul-breaking sunrises and sunsets.
As you rush and run away from the guards in the steppe, and now, the rhythm of this Music Film changes again - saved! Philip is already on the horse of his master, no, no, a friend with whom he is as slightly in love as with his beloved Bird, the one who with tender hands took the crossbow and embraced so that the world in this twilight turned upside down for both the boy and the spectator.
He's in love with the two of them, and this life, and this steppe, and this sun and the moon, and this wine, and this music and village dancing, and himself - that's the mystery of this movie, that's what makes the heart tremble and watch it again and again, and it's like that Beatles song "Because": I open the window and in the spilled aroma of flowers and the moon - it's all you, it's all me, and therefore I love you.
I have not yet seen a film that so conveys the love of life and eternity, without departing from the traditional ballad, the medieval parable. Such things we learn from the works of Umberto Eco, and this film as an animated drawing of a monastic manuscript, and we leaf through it with reverence ... touching the fusion of all times and dimensions, all the high states of the human spirit and the spirit of the Universe, which in ancient times was called the quintessence and elixir, the Philosopher's Stone, and this Alchemy does something to the viewer, filling his life with a meaning that will not take away neither mistakes, nor imprisonment in the 4 walls of civilization, nor the loss of love and nothing. And for a boy, this life, this ecstasy, is all that we need, and so we follow him and his dreams, and some of us find the courage to make those dreams come true, to stand on the board on a huge wave, to throw a bird down a cliff on a snowboard, to open the wings of a paraglider over Castile or the Himalayas, to fall in love, to write a novel, to travel... Because our life is life only when there are such moments and such insights, and everything else is nothing.
I first saw this film in my early childhood, and as I remember now, I really liked the romantic tale of the knight Captain Navarro. The other day, having succumbed to nostalgia, I began to review films that left a certain imprint on me as a child, and in general helped me fall in love with the world of cinema. And so, after "Beatlejuice" and "Gremlins" came the turn of the film "Lady Hawk".
Rutger Hauer - the well-known "fellow traveler" here appears in the role of the noble knight Etienne Navarro, the former captain of the guards of the fortress of Aquila, who became a victim of the insidious bishop's unrequited love for the beautiful Lady Izabo (Michel Pfeiffer) - the beloved of our hero. The bishop, being rejected, goes to extreme measures, turning to black magic. And now, due to evil fate, the escaped couple are doomed to suffering - by day Izabo appears as a hawk, and at night takes his human form, while by day Navarro remains a man, and at night he turns into a black venerable wolf, leaving Izabo to eternal loneliness. This is the tragedy of the film: Always Together. And always apart.
But one day, fate brings Navarro with a small thief Phillip Gaston, nicknamed “The Mouse” (played by the young Matthew Broderick). Etienne saves an escaped prisoner from the guards who pursued him and he becomes a companion in his exciting adventure.
As for the video series of the picture, it is simply luxurious. The landscapes of Northern Italy, where the shooting of this picture took place, capture attention, and ancient castles, a village, a cathedral - all of them immerse us in the atmosphere of the Middle Ages.
It is also worth noting that a small disappointment for me was the fact that too little screen time is given to the duo Rutger Hauer and Michelle Pfeiffer in their human guise – they had a very harmonious pair. But it still requires the dramaturgy of this picture and rightly so. In other words, I have no serious complaints.
This year, the picture celebrates its anniversary, it turns 30 years old! However, she has not lost her charm and charm. And if you like good fairy tales about love, about the eternal struggle of good with evil, and just like the genre of fantasy and the atmosphere of the Middle Ages, then you should definitely familiarize yourself with this picture.
Philip Gaston is a sneaky and brazen thief who until recently believed in his own elusiveness. What has changed since then? It is possible that Philip was caught and thrown into a dungeon from which, according to rumors, no one has yet managed to escape. After thinking a little and complaining about fate, Philip decides that he still has nothing to lose, and therefore the young man makes a desperate attempt to escape, which ends successfully. Which, however, is not surprising, because the genre of the picture is a fairy tale. So, intoxicated with the aroma of freedom, Philip comes to the first village and begins to brag on the main square. Well, yes, the young man is not very smart, since any person who is in good order with the instinct of self-preservation would certainly pay attention to the quiet civilians, as well as to the seven gloomy figures wrapped in hoods, who are actually guards in whose task it was entrusted to find and kill Philip. And despite the fact that Gaston is a cunning and quirky young man, but he is still not a fighter, and therefore would have been killed by evil guards if a mysterious stranger with his companion - a hawk - did not appear in time, who save the hapless young man. And that's where our story begins. The story of loving hearts that were separated by terrible and evil sorcery. A story of friendship and self-sacrifice. A story of pure and all-consuming love. And also about the fact that no matter how insidious and powerful the evil, but the good always has a couple of trump cards in his pocket, and in the case of Rutger Hauer - a faithful sword inherited by the hero from his ancestors and a crossbow that strikes without a miss. This is the story of “Lady Hawk”, which tells one of the kindest storytellers of Hollywood – Richard Donner.
Mmm, what? Richard Donner has only made one story in his entire life and it's in front of us. Theoretically, this is the case, but in practice the situation is somewhat different. After all, don’t tell me, and “Maverick” and “Lethal Weapon” were distinguished by some inner kindness and watching these films I did not leave the feeling of a miracle, a fairy tale, a good story before bed, call it what you want. In general, Richard Donner’s films have always been seen as something magical that came from a different, better world. I don’t know, maybe the thing is that I, unlike my peers, grew up on fairy tales and Soviet cartoons, and not on action films and horror stories, or maybe the thing is that I want to believe that our world is a much better place than it seems at first glance, but is it important? The important thing is that Richard Donner never missed his films and always gave the viewer what the latter expected most - bread and spectacles. This venerable director did not miss, and this time he gave birth to a God’s film, which many people call cult. To be honest, this movie has something to love.
And the main thing that is worth commending the film, is that it contains live main characters, whose images are written down to the smallest detail. That the thieving boy Philip Gaston, who voices his thoughts out loud, loves to lament fate and ask God not to let him die, and in exchange the young man swears and prays that he will not steal again. God responds to Philip’s pleas, and the latter, after getting off with a couple of bruises and bruises, continues to do what he does best – rob and deceive people. Why not? It is difficult to get rid of old habits, and then the young man does not take the latter from the locals and does not take more than he can carry lightly. It would seem that a thiefy scoundrel appears before the viewer, but wait to make a verdict and build a gallows for Philip, because behind the guise of a small swindler and a crook there is a person who is always ready to come to the aid of his neighbor. In fact, Philip Gaston, this is a kind of Aladdin with the only difference that the cartoon about the most famous Baghdad thief will be released only after seven years, but the details are irrelevant. Or Etienne of Navars – a noble knight who at night turns into a black wolf, as well as his companion “Lady Hawk”, who at night turns into a beautiful maiden whose name is Isabella. And yes, it is not by chance that I mentioned the characters Rutger Hauer and Michelle Pfeiffer together, because they turned out a beautiful screen duet, even though they do not actually appear in the same frame at the same time, but the love that the characters feel for each other can not but fascinate. Yes, of course, negative characters are just bad guys, whose screen time is strictly limited, but with such characters it is not so important.
As for the action, and many people love movies about knights for this, then it will be here and there will be a lot of it here and even if at times it looks quite naive, but as it seems to me, this is what sword fights in fairy tales should look like - without much cruelty, but at the same time beautiful and elegant.
Do not forget about the musical accompaniment, which perfectly conveys the atmosphere of those years, as well as the feelings that torment the souls of a particular hero. But this can not be found in every film.
Summing up, I want to say that before us there is an interesting and fascinating fairy tale, in which there was a place, both drama and comedy. In this film starred wonderful actors who were able to demonstrate everything they are capable of. So if you are not indifferent to good films, especially fairy tales, then I recommend this film to watch, the charge of cheerfulness and good mood is guaranteed.